Handling Difficult Customers

The customers and suppliers you need to work with effectively may be outside your company or in the next office. and you may not always see eye to eye. Even if you have strong interpersonal skills and common goals, conflict can happen. Make sure you know how find common ground, calm emotions and forge a productive path forward.

Part 1: The Difficult Customer in Your Life

• Personality Profiles of Difficult People
• Quickly building rapport with your customers.
• Listen and acknowledge that you have heard what your customers have said.

Part 2: How You Perceive Difficult People

• How You Contribute to the Problem
• Create a sense of trust and goodwill with your customers
• Reset customer expectations.
• The Right Attitude Starts with You

Part 3: The Power of a Difficult Person

• Degrees of Difficulty
• Favorite Difficult Person
• First Response
• Getting Past the First Response

Part 4: Making a Plan and Finding the Words

• Strategies for Dealing with Different Types
• Communication skills for unreasonable customers.
• Choosing customer-centric language.

Part 5: Leading a Difficult Customer to a Better Outcome

• The LEAD Model; Listen; Explore; Attend
• Deliver a Solution
• Being the Difficult Person
• How to better manage service-related stress.

Anyone in your organization who deals with angry, disgruntled, irritated or hard-to-please customers will gain valuable skills that make each customer interaction more pleasant and end with a more positive outcome.